I did ballet for 12 years, and haven't been doing it for a year and a half for several reasons(injured and moving to a different country, too expensive in Paris etc) and I have been playing the piano for 13 years. Last year I played the piano for all the RAD examinations at my ballet school in Cyprus and I really enjoyed it. It is difficult and tiring, but I loved it because it combines two of my passions, ballet and music. I believe that you need to have studied ballet to be able to play music for it, cause that's the only way you can ''feel'' the dancers.

So, despite the fact that I'm now studying something else(linguistics, I love it too), I'd love to work as a pianist for ballet someday. I'm just wondering, how can someone become a ballet pianist? What do you have to do? Is there a course? Any recommended books? I only have the books of the RAD syllabus and that's not enough, I need some for free work.

Hi Annie - great to see you back here. Hope time allows you to post regularly about your dance related activities/enquiries/thoughts etc.

I was interested in your thoughts on this topic and I'm sure that having experience as a dancer is a good route, but my impression from watching the Royal Ballet pianists, in action and talking about working with dancers, is that there other routes as well.

Regarding how to go forward, I wonder about contacting Jonathan Still, an excellent pianist and accompanist who has played on-stage with ENB to much acclaim and is a lecturer in music studies at the RAD. Here is his personal website, which has lots of different musings:

Annie, although I disagree that you have to have studied ballet to be able to play music for it (there are too many good ballet accompanists who have never done a plie for that to be true), your background will certainly give you an advantage when you start. This interview with Ros Holgate, Head of Music at the Northern Ballet School doesn't provide any information about how to find work in this field (she answered an ad), but it sheds light on what it's like to be a ballet accompanist.

Quote:

I may be standing on a soap box, but I feel strongly that the profession I am in is undervalued generally. Many see a ballet pianist as little more than someone who plays for small children in a draughty church hall; there is so much more to it than that. I have heard and seen some excellent pianists flounder when confronted with a 'free' ballet class, since no music is provided and the pianist must follow the dance instructor's commmands: it is a very difficult task.

You might try A Handbook for the Ballet Accompanist, by Gerald R. Lishka. Here's a review on amazon.com. You could also look for it at alibris.com or other book sources.

This is a group of international dance musicians who have an organisation specially for dance musicians. You can sent a message to the administrative email address and join the mailing list. I think you have to put something like: 'I want to join this group' as subject. You will receive messages from people from Europe, Canada & the US mostly. They also organise meetings.
Good luck with your plans and study!

We would be remiss if we did not mention the women whom I consider to have been the goddess of all ballet accompanists, Harriet Cavalli. She has a book out on playing for the ballet and is available from either the University's web site or hers:

Her CDs are quite good too and will give you a good flavor of HOW she played -- what I call a "full-orchestral sound." The energy of how she played was always lively and fully supportive of the students and dancers.

One of my personal favorites is the dotted 6/8 march ("El Capitan"/Sousa) she has on the second CD listed -- "Music for Ballet Class 2." Ditto with many of the tracks on her Perry Brunson tribute.

1) correct meter
2) feeling that matches exercise (sometimes, for me, this is the most important criteria!)
3) length of music and exercise come out the same
4) good intro: two or four bars with a very brief pause (about a short breath) between intro and start of tune

Less obvious:

1) lots of octaves in the left hand/bass clef
2) "lift-pause"

Personal Preferences:

1) pliés are not a weak exercise, even though the dances are relatively still -- please no tinkle-box music or stuff that's "atmospheric" give us some inspiration: lively, energetic.

2) music for the stretch part of rond de jambe par terre should speed up slightly into a bouncy 3/4 -- not slow down or be "heavy." This comes after the fourth phrase of 8 (usually).

3) play arpeggios that go UP at the end of exercises and "amens" after balances to get us down.

4) throw in a occasional show tune

While it's true that there are fabulous accompanists out there who have not ever stepped into a ballet class, it DOES help! If anything, to feel how the movement should go. A friend that went to my high school and who later played for SFB School, reported to me that when she played for ballet classes at the UW, they had her "run around the studio" when she was beginning.

Thank you for your replies everyone! I have written to Jonathan Still and he replied, he was very helpful, and he recommended a book that I have received, from the rad publications. It's pretty good! I will try the other group as well.

Djb, you're right ,I guess I didn't put it right when I said that you have to have danced to be able to play. What I meant was that you have to have some knowledge of what ballet is and how a class goes on. It's just that I have heard people who have actually studied the piano at the university etc, that didn't know how to accompany dancers...sure they had the technique etc, but you need more than that, you have to give the feel of the movement.

I'm really looking forward to finding more music etc during the summer when I will have lots of time! It would be a huge task to '' make '' my own class music.

It sounds like you're probably qualified to begin working as a ballet pianist. You should update your resume (inluding recent RAD pianist experience and your long interest and participation in dance) and inquire at local ballet schools that might be looking to hire another pianist. The head pianist at the place that hires you should be able to mentor you further as to their needs, provide music, etc.

There are indeed many routes. I stumbled upon ballet accompaniment very unintentionally as a substitute for my Jazz piano teacher who had played classes for several years as a way to make a few bucks. He was a brilliant Jazz pianist/arranger as well as having deep classical roots. He showed me how to apply simple musical forms (like Jazz standards) to ballet. It was indeed challenging, having no clue about the bizarre language and movement. Fortunately the director enjoyed the American songbook and I got by trying to fit Good Morning Heartache into a Tendu for the 9 year olds at 10 in the morning! 6 years later I had taken several classes, danced a character role in one of the Nutracker's, and composed two original ballet scores! Having done a plie does make you a better ballet pianist. I've since moved to a different town and play for the local college. The best way to learn how to do it is to do it! Go to any local schools or companies in your area and simply offer your services. Try to make any music work that you possibly can. There are several modern composers (Irving Berlin, for example) whose tunes have the sense of form and motion that work brilliantly for combinations. Just dive in and do it and it will grow. Thanks folks, this is the first time I ever bothered to search for other accompanists via the internet and this is what I found!

I've had so many clicks to my site from this post over several years, for which I'm very grateful, so I thought it might be worth updating the information, as I'm no longer at the RAD, and I've moved my site to http://www.jonathanstill.com (although the old link will still get you there for the moment). There's a lot there about playing for ballet there, including my work-in-progress, A year of ballet playing cards - a set of 52 pieces of piano music for ballet class that you can download for free as pdfs, with blog posts on each one. http://jonathanstill.com/a-year-of-ballet-playing-cards/. The best way to find other stuff about the topic of playing for ballet is to look under the "Writings" menu. There's also a contact form on the site.

Stuart Sweeney wrote:

Hi Annie - great to see you back here. Hope time allows you to post regularly about your dance related activities/enquiries/thoughts etc.

I was interested in your thoughts on this topic and I'm sure that having experience as a dancer is a good route, but my impression from watching the Royal Ballet pianists, in action and talking about working with dancers, is that there other routes as well.

Regarding how to go forward, I wonder about contacting Jonathan Still, an excellent pianist and accompanist who has played on-stage with ENB to much acclaim and is a lecturer in music studies at the RAD. Here is his personal website, which has lots of different musings:

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